Bryanna........question please
I have upper top two molar. last molar is implant and second is an old crown. I had to have surgery and when they incubated me they accidentally pulled crown dow on 2nd to last. ( sorry forget tooth #) to make story short, i have a bery open space between the two teeth that is allowing food to get in that area. I floss all the time as well as brush, I take care of my teeth,.
This weekend i noticed pain , which should not be the case as one is implant and other crown, but there is infection in gum. I called my wonderful dentist and he put me on amox, 500 mg. Problem is that it is not helping, At one point the gum line was even white along adjacent teeth. So i do know that i need a new crown put on, however until there is no infection there is no sense.
Question is why is there pain and swelling of gum area when the two teeth are dead so to speak? Also is it worth calling dentist and asking for another antibiotic?
I swear it always seems like something is going on, and when it rains it pours, and boy teeth are so expensive. My dentist is wonderful, just don't get the pain part?

I appreciate any help and guidance on this one, Once again thanks, you are great...


Ouch

jane


When i get this sorted i have questions on bridges, as i need to address that as well, but have to put this fire out first....gotta keep playing the lottery here........thanks Bryanna

Hi ouch,

A little bit about infection.....

The actual dental implant cannot become infected but the bone and gums around the implant can become infected.

Crowned teeth with or without the crown on it can become infected, so can the bone and gum surrounding it. If the crown has come off or it does not fit well then food debris gets trapped underneath the gumline and you may not be able to get it out. The packed food can cause an infection.

Root canaled teeth always harbor some degree of infection within the tooth because there is no way to remove all of the bad bacteria from inside of the tooth during a root canal procedure. Typically root canaled teeth re-abcess at some point and because this can take time to show symptoms, it is not unusual for the abcess to reach the teeth next to the root canaled one.

Anytime there is infection in a tooth or the bone and/or the gum, other teeth or areas of the mouth can become infected as well. The mouth is very vascular (many blood vessels, etc) which allows infection to spread fairly easily. Infection can also spread to other areas of the body from the mouth again fairly easily.

We are taught to believe that once a tooth has a root canal and/or a crown on it that the tooth will be "healthy" forever. That is unfortunately not exactly true and people need to become better informed by their dentists about the risks associated with dental procedures such as these. Crowns are necessary for different reasons and can have a very long lifespan if the tooth is healthy, the mouth is healthy and the crown fits properly. All root canaled teeth are unhealthy and eventually have problems as I mentioned above.

To answer your question about pain in dead teeth........ as you have read in my post there are many reasons for infection to occur and it is irrelevant as to whether the tooth is alive or not since the teeth are in viable bone making them susceptible to infection. Dental implants are metal and cannot become infected but they can hurt or fall out if there is infection in or near the bone that they are screwed into.

Chances are that the antibiotic is not going to cure the infection. It may be necessary to have the area evaluated more extensively with radiographs and possibly a CT scan to see exactly where the infection is hiding.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news........ really I am. But your dentist should be informing you of all the possibilites... perhaps now you have a better understanding and will be able to discuss this situation with him better.

Please let us know how you are doing :-)

Bryanna